Posted by Jeremy Andrews on November 11, 2012 at 18:54:33:
In Reply to: Stephanie Miller asks why only 10% of the talk shows in America are Progressive? posted by Paul on November 11, 2012 at 15:32:39:
In syndication, most of the talk show hosts Dial Global (The largest satellite service in the country) are Progressive Talkers or somewhere in between. They have Ed Schultz, Bill Press, Stephanie Miller, Thom Hartmann, Michael Smerconish (Independant), Jim Bohannon (Moderate), etc.
There's a lot of Liberal talk hosts, the problem is they can't get ratings in many areas. The reason why? Their target audience isn't listening to talk Radio.
In many areas, those who are progressive get their information and talk from internet sources, podcasts, etc and not AM or Talk Radio. Either that or they are listening to NPR.
WCPT in Chicago was mentioned in this article. The guy who owns it is a major doner to the Democratic party. He's a rich guy. Has plenty of cash. He owns a set of full time leased Ethnic/Brokered AM signals. These stations are cash cows. People will pay top dollar to get some airtime. Usually ethnic or religious groups.
Since the owner is rich, a heavy doner to the Democratic party, and makes enough money from his other stations, WCPT is probably a donation of airtime to the Democratic party. They don't need advertisers. They're on for free. The owner can afford to let the station run Progressive Talk without advertisers, not to mention run a little brokered programming and cash in during off peak hours (Weekends, as well as nights on the FM signals)